Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments in the case of Erotic Service Provider Legal, Education and Research Project (ESPLERP) v. Gascón, a case challenging California laws that criminalize sex work.
If nothing else is clear here, at least this one thing is: the current United States Department of "Justice" is going out of its way – over and over – to deny people civil rights.
Our justice system should be designed to treat all people equally. Yet that does not happen for the estimated 450,000 Americans who remain in pretrial detention because they cannot afford to pay costly bail.
By touting the conviction and sentence given to Mercedes Williamson’s murderer yesterday, Sessions clearly — and cynically — hopes to use violence against transgender people as a way to disarm progressives who are speaking out against Sessions’ misguided and racially-charged approach to criminal justice.
Yesterday, Lambda Legal asked a federal district court to order the Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC) and Corizon LLC (Corizon) to provide medically necessary, doctor-recommended health care for the treatment of gender dysphoria for Jessica Hicklin, a 38-year-old transgender woman incarcerated at the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point, Missouri.
Today, the Missouri Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision and granted a new trial to Michael Johnson, an HIV-positive black gay man, who is currently serving 30 years in prison under an out-of-date law that criminalizes the sexual conduct of people living with HIV.
Today the White House hosted 150 formerly incarcerated LGBTQ people, policymakers & advocates to discuss unique challenges faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the criminal legal system.
When I was 16, I was convicted of first-degree murder and criminal action and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, plus 100 years. In the 21 years since then, I have been incarcerated at Potosi Correctional Center (PCC), a maximum-security prison in Mineral Point, Missouri for male inmates.
Today, Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Jessica Hicklin, a 37-year-old transgender woman incarcerated at the Potosi Correctional Center, a facility for male inmates, in Mineral Point, Missouri. The case challenges a Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC) “freeze-frame” policy that bars access to hormone therapy for inmates and others in custody if they were not receiving treatment prior to incarceration.